﻿Attended schools at Poligny and Besançon; studied law at the Collège de l'Arc at Dole, Jura; was admitted to the bar in Paris (1837); participated in political trials during the July Monarchy; after the revolution of 1848, he was appointed commissioner of the Republic for the département of Jura (15 Mar 1848 - 29 Apr 1848); elected to the Assemblée nationale constituante (Constituent National Assembly), representing Jura (1848-1849); served as vice-president of the National Assembly (5 Mar 1849 - 26 May 1849); elected to the Assemblée nationale législative (Legislative National Assembly) (1849-1851); abstained from politics from 1851 until 1868 as one of the opposition figures; returned to practicing law during the Second Empire; elected to fill a vacancy in the Corps législatif (1868-1870); after the fall of Napoléon III elected to the Assemblee nationale (National Assembly) from Jura (1871-1876); president of the National Assembly (16 Feb 1871 - 2 Apr 1873); resigned under the pressure of the monarchists (2 Apr 1873); elected president again (2 Apr 1876), but refused to serve (3 Apr 1873); elected to the Chambre des députés [Chamber of Deputies] (1876-1879); provisional president (8 Mar 1876 - 13 Mar 1876), president (13 Mar 1876 - 30 Jan 1879) of the Chamber of Deputies; following the resignation of Marshal de Mac Mahon, he was elected President of the Republic (30 Jan 1879); favored strong legislature at the expense of weak executive; opposed colonial expansion, but France turned Annam and Tonkin in its protectorate (1883) and sent an expedition to Madagascar (1883-1885); won reelection with overwhelming majority of votes (28 Dec 1885); was forced to resign (2 Dec 1887) because of a scandal over the sale of decorations for the Légion d'Honneur by his son-in-law.